The Immigrants of America

The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing. Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them. Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.

It is important for immigrants to learn to speak and write in English while keeping their native tongue. Without knowing how to speak the common language here, it is impossible to blend in. I have seen Vietnamese people who migrated to the United States more than ten years ago but still speak little to no English. Most of them live in their little Vietnamese communities, subsisting off either minimal pay-checks from manual labor, such as giving manicures, or their relatives’ paychecks. They are like parasites that could literally die without their host. Foremost, they will put themselves in danger because they cannot read warning signs and prohibitions. If emergencies arise, these non-English speakers would not be able to explain the situation to a police officer. In the worse case, they will endanger others’ lives as well. These probably have their own reasons for not learning English but denial to learn when they have the potential is simply illogical when this would open so many doors, opportunities and win them the acceptance of the general population. Even Japanese people learn to speak English once they migrate to America although it is the taboo language in Japan. Immigra...

... middle of paper ...

...nd Videos - For Dummies. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. .

Yamaguchi, Kristi. "Faces of America - Kristi Yamaguchi." Interview by Henry L. Gates, Jr. PBS. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. .

Parrillo, Vincent. “Causes of Prejudice”. Re-reading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. 8th Ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2010. 384-398

Rumbaut, Ruben G., Douglas S. Massey, and Frank D. Bean. Linguistic Life Expectancies: Immigrant Language Retention in Southern California. Tech. Population Council. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. .